Sales Promotion Methods

Within the marketing mix, promotion is an important variable that if used correctly, can increase the profits and the number of consumers for that product or service. There are many consider and trade sales promotion methods that an organization can use. The use of consumer sales promotion is to encourage the public to try a particular product. Another type of promotion a company could use are coupons and cents-off offers. Coupons could be used to increase sales volume from repeat customers by lowering their products price with the coupon. This could be beneficial for the firm if the coupons increased the number of sales. It could also have negative aspects, such as not many people using the coupon. Coupons in a magazine would also be an advertisement for your firm. With the cents-off offer, the customer would pay a less amount that is originally displayed on the tag. This could get customers purchasing the item if they think its worth it at the lowered price. Money refunds are also a type of promotion. This is where a customer sends in something that says proof of purchase and then are mailed a specific amount of money back. Rebates (which are similar), is when the customer is sent a specific amount of money for making a single purchase. Most rebates are delayed, causing the customer to have to wait for the discount because it takes time for the customer to receive the discount. Frequent-user incentives are good ways to keep customers to return to your company. This is when a firm makes incentive programs to reward repeat customers. For example, at price chopper they offer an advantage card. That entitles the customer to get discounts on sale items and receive points to get so many cents off a gallon of gas at Sunoco. The more you spend the more rewards the customer will get towards gas. Do you think it is important for a firm to come up with a different promotional method than its competitors, to give them a competitive advantage?